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Interesting 4 season experiment Topic

I friend of mine and myself are in the same division in d3 Yost. 4 seasons ago, we decided to proceed with 2 different practice plans. I (Mass Maritime) took over the 204th ranked team and practiced 100% of my time on individual skills. My friend took over a team ranked about 100th (Worcester State) and practiced 20 mins on 1 offensive formation (pro set) and 20 mins on 1 defensive formation (3-4) with the rest on individual skills. We did this for 4 seasons. We just met in game 12 in season 4. My players are on average 6 points better then his (guess ratings), but I have formation IQ's of about 10. He has formation IQ's in the high 30's. He did NOT game plan differently for me, but I did set my defense up for him. He beat me handily.

I also took a loss to a 1-8 sim team that I game planned the second half for.

The study leads me to believe (I understand that it is a small sample size) that Formation IQ is more important than I believe it to be. I was under the impression that it was about 5% of a difference, but judging from my success (or lack there of) at Mass Maritme with a team that now has the 7th ranked roster (guess ratings) I believe that fomation IQ is more important than the 5%. Any thoughts?

I took over D3 Carleton a number of seasons back now. I stayed for 4 seasons. This was one of the worst teams I have ever laid eyes on. It was by far the worst in Wilkinson when I took it on. All recruits were AC signings, meaning the coach had not recruited. No practice plan had been in effect in his seasons there. It was on a 100 game loss streak.

I never practiced a minute of formations in 4 seasons. First season was no surprise. I won 1 game. Second season I won 9. All recruits I signed were of high potential. 3rd season I won the CC. 4th and final season CC as well. The teams I beat in those 2 CC's practiced formations. The team I beat out for my division practiced heavy formation. The 3rd season after I beat him and won the CC he went on a PO run and went to the NC game.

When i started Carleton our overall team rating was around 280. The dominate team in my division who practiced formations was over 500. Four seasons of high potential recruits, none of who were top recruits when signed since I had the worst vision, I ended season 4 at around 535. The other team was still at around 500.

Do I think formation IQ matters? No. I think it is the same chance as everything else with GD right now. If and when I ever get another d3 team I will do the same. All high potential recruits and 0 formation practice. Formation doesn't pay at D3 imo.

Interesting... it would be helpful to see if others have some other evidence of this (either for or against form IQ) with somewhat similarly talented teams and not winning sim dominated conferences or whatever.

i have been thinking form IQ doesnt matter, or at least matters less than the already small-ish amount i thought it did.

in several games the last few seasons with my running SG (high30s-to 40s) vs opponent Dime (usually untrained, so in the 10-11-12 range) i have seen nothing to indicate that i had any sort of an edge.
i have found that i have tended to throw more picks and pick up more penalties on offense out of SG than i annecdotally remember getting hit with 4-5-6-7 seasons ago.

i think in the last 3 games ve Dobie DIII Williams, i have thrown a combined 17 INT (including 7 this season) against his Dime.

While it is true that you can have success without practicing formations, I am a believer in FIQ. As I've said before, there is no single item in this game that can be identified as 100% useful or 100% useless. FIQ is just another tool that can be used (or not) to help your team increase its percentage of success vs another team. Even with 100 FIQ across the board you won't throw 80yd TDs on every play out of the Shotgun...or run for 99yd TD on every play from the Wishbone.

I believe there are so many variables in this game that it is impossible to isolate any one of them. It provides for a lot of discussion, but does not prove/disprove anything.

Its my belief this is what WIS wants.. its no different in real life.. How many times does a team come into the game with an obvious roster advantage and on paper far superior only to be beat by the lesser team.. My first objective example would be Oklahoma vs Boise St a few years ago.. Point being sometimes the little things matter and other times they dont.. lets face it, talent is king no matter what and it is proven 8 out of 10 times, its not perfect but it certainly is proven..

Posted by husker68144 on 1/7/2013 2:14:00 PM (view original):Its my belief this is what WIS wants.. its no different in real life.. How many times does a team come into the game with an obvious roster advantage and on paper far superior only to be beat by the lesser team.. My first objective example would be Oklahoma vs Boise St a few years ago.. Point being sometimes the little things matter and other times they dont.. lets face it, talent is king no matter what and it is proven 8 out of 10 times, its not perfect but it certainly is proven..

Posted by husker68144 on 1/7/2013 2:14:00 PM (view original):Its my belief this is what WIS wants.. its no different in real life.. How many times does a team come into the game with an obvious roster advantage and on paper far superior only to be beat by the lesser team.. My first objective example would be Oklahoma vs Boise St a few years ago.. Point being sometimes the little things matter and other times they dont.. lets face it, talent is king no matter what and it is proven 8 out of 10 times, its not perfect but it certainly is proven..

One thing to keep in mind is that talent never hurts and it sometimes helps. So while there may not be a silver bullet to success in this game, in general, having better players is going to produce better results. That being said, randomness is always going to be a huge factor in any *single* game. Better players should reduce the chances for poor results, but they will not eliminate them.